Various artists, works for the Revel fundraiser at The Bridge/Progressive Arts Initiative; Through April 25; Live auction 8pm

Just for a few days this week, you can go to The Bridge and see a top-shelf collection of largely local art. It’ll be hanging in anticipation of Saturday’s Revel, a fundraising auction and party, and I recommend you start your visit by gazing at David Ellis’s piece.

Not just child’s play: The Bridge/Progressive Arts Initiative auctions prime local art (including works like Megan Marlatt’s “Toys in a Pile 2”) to raise money during its first annual Revel.

It’s a large surface onto which he’s glued printed-out e-mails, mostly pertaining to a complicated installation Ellis created in 2004 in Winston-Salem. The messages document Ellis and venue staff coordinating a host of details—technology, scheduling, etc.—and they prove that to be a working artist is not just about solitary creation or divine inspiration. It’s also about planning and organization. You have to be practical.

Over the printouts, in black and grey, Ellis has painted a swirling abstract form very much like the one he painted on the outside of the Bridge itself. So this piece is the perfect emblem for the Revel: The Bridge, having established itself as a vital artspace for Charlottesville, is raising money to continue helping artists with all those practical concerns.

Not incidentally, the pieces up for auction are a stellar bunch. There are donations from a lineup of local stars (Richard Crozier, Edward Thomas, Robin Braun, Cynthia Burke) as well as some younger artists. There are paintings, photographs, a video piece by Lydia Moyer and a prop from a film by Kevin Everson.

One highlight, for my money, is William Wylie’s pair of photographs from his series on the marble quarry at Carrara, Italy. They show enormous chunks of marble resting on bare ground, displaying scratches and marks from machinery, water, and ancient geologic processes. The images seem simple, but they speak to questions of intention (the human act of separating rock from the earth) and usefulness (the special potential of this particular raw material, the stone preferred by Michelangelo).

Also keep an eye out for some intriguing new work from Patrick Costello (a Bridge stalwart and an Aunspaugh fellow at UVA), a lovely and mysterious piece by show curator Clay Witt, and Megan Marlatt’s haunting depiction of a pile of plastic kids’ toys. There will be a lot of fine work in the room, just as there is a wealth of committed artists in Charlottesville. With the recent loss of so much gallery space here, The Bridge emerges as a more necessary institution than ever. Help out if you can.

Let’s just go ahead and get the obligatory warning out of the way: Don’t do illegal stuff. But we know that some of you will, and when you encounter police, at least be aware of your rights so you don’t get yourself in more trouble than you’re already in. For legal advice, we consulted attorney

What’s it like to be a teenager in 2018? We figured nobody’s better plugged in than newspaper editors, so we checked in with the editors at Charlottesville High and Western Albemarle, as well as a CHS junior. Here’s what we learned about the differences between city and county schools—and what

Mental health focus Lucas Johnson isn’t old enough to vote yet, but the 17-year-old Monticello High senior and his peers from two other county high schools—Choetsow Tenzin at Albemarle and Alex Moreno at Western Albemarle—didn’t let that stop them from demanding the General Assembly support

There aren’t many places to skateboard in Charlottesville. The city closed its skate park on McIntire Road during construction of the U.S. 250 Bypass and John Warner Parkway interchange in 2012 and moved it to McIntire Park. And last month, it closed the second location, too. Nineteen-year-old

Young people in Parkland, Florida, are dealing with an unspeakable act that killed 17 people and destroyed countless lives and feelings of safety in their daily routines, much like what students in Charlottesville had to cope with at the beginning of the school year after the August 12 white

Patrick Clancy, his brother Ryan and nine other teens went to an 8am soccer practice at Monticello High School on an artificial turf field July 21, the second day of a National Weather Service heat advisory. The two-hour practice ended around 10am, when the heat advisory officially kicked in.

By Mary Jane Gore A fire along Old Three Notch’d Road caused a rush hour roadblock February 1 on one of Crozet’s main thoroughfares: Three Notch’d Road, aka Route 240. Instead of being able to drive to downtown Crozet, drivers had to make a U-turn, return to U.S. 250 and make a right, then

New research shows that all 50 states can legally restrict private militia and paramilitary activity at events such as the summer’s deadly Unite the Right rally, according to the University of Georgetown Law School’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection. The legal organization,

We’re No. 1 Despite Saturday’s overtime loss at JPJ to Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia men’s basketball team was ranked No. 1 in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in more than 35 years. The Hoos (23-2) also became the first ACC team to make it to No. 1 after starting

When Mayor Nikuyah Walker chaired her first City Council meeting February 5, citizens got to see how previously out-of-control meetings would be run under a new regime—and learned that the heckling continues both for councilors and for the West2nd developer seeking a special use permit that

Bill Mawyer often asks a question that few can answer: Do you know where your water comes from? “Frequently in our business, people are shocked by the amount of time and money it takes to maintain a reliable water system,” says Mawyer, executive director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer

As the General Assembly finished its fourth week in this year’s session, most of the 3,000 or so bills legislators filed will die in subcommittee, but some are inching toward the governor’s desk for signature into law. Killed bills: Danger zone After a bill to ban the devices used in the Las

Over the weekend, unknown persons three times did what plaintiffs in a lawsuit against City Council want done: removed the tarps covering statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Almost exactly a year after City Council voted 3-2 to remove the statues on February 6,

When Jason Kessler leaves a courthouse in Charlottesville, he’s usually greeted the same way, and that’s by an angry mob. A group of dozens of anti-racists followed him in a large circle around Market Street until he receded to the police department next to the general district court. He exited

When it comes to chronic diseases, local health care providers and researchers are emerging as key players and national innovators. And they’re using familiar tools—smartphones and apps—to provide customized care for patients and their families.

Another high-profile case went through Albemarle County Circuit Court on January 31, where motions for a self-proclaimed racist who found himself in trouble after the weekend of the Unite the Right rally had two motions denied and one granted. Christopher Cantwell is accused of using a

An Amtrak train carrying GOP congressmen bound for the The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia hit a garbage truck at Lanetown Road in Crozet around 11:20am today. One person is reported dead, according to NBC29, and UVA says three people have been transported to its hospital, one in critical

Ahead of Super Bowl LII, we’re looking back at Charlottesville’s connection to modern football. And in case you haven’t heard—it’s pretty monumental. Named after Dr. William Lambeth, who’s known widely as the University of Virginia’s “father of athletics,” Lambeth Field was constructed at the

After Charlottesville earned the dubious distinction of having the most expensive health insurance premiums in the country, some of the area residents who couldn’t afford to pay $3,000 a month formed Charlottesville for Reasonable Health Insurance and retained a lawyer who’s made a career out

It’s Girl Scout cookie season Good luck getting around town without encountering a wide-eyed girl at a cookie booth who wants to sell you one box of each flavor. How could you say no? For the past two weekends, girls have set up shop at dozens of locations around town. To get the scoop on this